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K. Douglas Thrasher, DO

Originally from the Coachella Valley, Dr. Thrasher attended the University of Redlands and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. As an undergraduate, he established himself as a self-proclaimed “lab rat,” studying the physical properties of a Human Myeloma Immunoglobulin. His postgraduate training took him to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel where he studied with world-renowned structural biologist Dr. Henryk Eisenberg. Here he applied his research skills to study an enzyme from the archaebacteria, Halobacteria maris mortui, found only in the Dead Sea.

He later worked for Beckmann Coulter (formerly Beckmann Instruments), as a research chemist developing prototype analytical instrumentation for the hospital laboratory. In 1983, he co-founded Quantum Diagnostics, Inc. and provided contract product research and development (R&D) services for larger companies wishing to expedite their R&D process. Ultimately, Dr. Thrasher decided to pursue his lifelong desire of becoming a physician. He completed medical school at Western University of Health Sciences (formerly College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific) and residency in Family Medicine at the Shenandoah Valley Family Practice Residency Program — one of the few programs accredited by the Virginia Commonwealth University’s prestigious Medical College of Virginia.

For the past decade, Dr. Thrasher worked in semi-rural Virginia and comes to us most recently from even more remote, north central Washington State where he served as medical director, an emergency room and a family medicine physician as well as a hospitalist.

When asked what his specialty is, he responds, “the skin and its contents,” a quote he acquired from his grandfather who was a General Practitioner/Surgeon in Los Angeles for more than 30 years. Specifically, Dr. Thrasher has keen interests in lipidology (the study of cholesterol and its effects on the inside of arteries), diabetes and metabolic syndrome in both children and adults. In addition, he is experienced in the medical management of chronic pain as well as outpatient treatment of opiate addiction. He is a strong proponent of patient-oriented technologies such as the insulin pump. Board Certified in Family Medicine, he is as comfortable with children as he is with adults and seniors.

“I consider my role in my patient’s lives as that of consultant, confidant, comforter and mechanic,” says Dr. Thrasher. In the metaphysical sense, I am personally driven by the philosophy of the French Philosopher and Jesuit Priest, Teilhard de Chardin who said, ‘We are not mortal beings in search of a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a mortal experience.’ It is my job then to help ensure the mortal experience is optimized from a health standpoint so we are not distracted from all we are to gain otherwise.”